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Derrick Webb: Why Piketon's Cami Chandler is the SVC POY

Piketon's Cami Chandler spikes a ball at the net while Unioto's Madi Eberst defends. Chandler leads the area in kills while Eberst ranks second in the area in assists.(Photo: Joshua Anderson/For the Gazette)Buy Photo

CHILLICOTHE - In its history, the Scioto Valley Conference has given 44 volleyball players a coveted title — Player of the Year.

Adena's Cindy Noble was the first to earn the award in 1976. Since then, six athletes have earned the award twice, one deserved the trophy three times and there have been three years where two players have shared it.

This season, 13 games into the conference schedule, there seems to be no real consensus on who should be the SVC's 45th Player of the Year.

As always, opinions seem to be split. But after watching each team and player compete, I'm of the opinion, there's only one clear choice and it's Piketon's Cami Chandler.

Keep in mind, I don't get a vote and I don't have any type of say as to who actually wins the award each year. However, to be a part of the discussion, I must make the case for Chandler because if I don't, the best player in Piketon history could get overlooked.

To build any case, you have to start with the facts, so here are the facts on Chandler:

Besides being the school's all-time leader in kills with 1,364 — 29th all-time in OHSAA history and second all-time in SVC history — Chandler leads the area with 425 kills this season. The next closest player, teammate Jordan Morris, has 298.

With 50 more kills, Chandler will enter the OHSAA state record book for kills in a season. Only 35 other players in history can claim that feat and only one other SVC player can say they've accomplished it — Westfall's Cassie Sowers.

Chandler also has 46 blocks, good enough for fifth in the area. Forty-four of those blocks are solo blocks and all 46 have come in 21 matches, an average of 2.3 blocks per match. She has just five block errors, the lowest of any player above her in the conference rankings.

This season, Chandler has reached 25 or more kills in a match seven times and 20 or more kills in a match on 12 occasions, by far the most in the area. In those 12 games, Piketon is 11-1, meaning that if Chandler plays well, so do the Redstreaks.

Now that the facts are on the table, let's look at Chandler's competition when it comes to the POY award — namely Unioto's Madi Eberst and Southeastern's Ella Skeens.

I want to be clear here: both Eberst and Skeens are excellent players, elite to be frank. But take Eberst or Skeens off their respective rosters and the argument could be made that both the Shermans and Panthers still win 15 to 20 games.

Now take Chandler off Piketon's roster? The Redstreaks would struggle to get to 10. And that's not to say Piketon has sub-par athletes because they don't.

However, Chandler takes so much responsibility within the offense. Without her, Morris would be the Redstreaks' main hitting threat but that would leave a glaring hole in the back row — where, oh, by the way, Chandler has 181 digs this year.

If Chandler is to win this year's Player of the Year award, she'd become just the second Redstreak to ever do so — following Andrea Purpero's lead in 1986.

The bottom line is this: there's no player in the league that brings more value to their team than Chandler and there's not another team in the league that relies on one player's performance more than Piketon does with Chandler.